Wednesday, May 28, 2014

I haven't even had a chance to watch The Tale of Princess Kaguya yet (but I was able to watch The Wind Rises), and Studio Ghibli will already be releasing their 20th feature film called When Marnie Was There or Omoide no Marnie (思い出のマーニーOmoide no Mānī, lit. "Memories of Marnie").

Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (The Secret World of Arrietty), the story is based on a book of the same title written by Joan G. Robinson. It is adapted for screen by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Keiko Niwa, and Masashi Ando and produced by Toshio Suzuki, who also worked for Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro and others.

Check out this new visual from Studio Ghibli's new film When Marnie Was There, featuring Kasumi Arimura as Marnie and Sara Takatsuki as Anna.

And here are a few more photos, showing off the characters.

Elderly Lady (Ryoko Moriyama)

Hisako (Hitomi Kuroki)

Kiyomasa (Susumu Terajima)

Nanny (Kazuko Yoshiyuki)

Setsu (Toshie Negishi)

Yoriko (Nanako Matsushima)

Synopsis

Anna hasn't a friend in the world - until she meets Marnie among the sand dunes. But Marnie isn't all she seems...
An atmospheric ghost story with truths to tell about friendship, families and loneliness. Anna lives with foster parents, a misfit with no friends, always on the outside of things. Then she is sent to Norfolk to stay with old Mr and Mrs Pegg, where she runs wild on the sand dunes and around the water. There is a house, the Marsh House, which she feels she recognizes - and she soon meets a strange little girl called Marnie, who becomes Anna's first ever friend. Then one day, Marnie vanishes.
A new family, the Lindsays, move into the Marsh House. Having learnt so much from Marnie about friendship, Anna makes firm friends with the Lindsays - and learns some strange truths about Marnie, who was not all she seemed...

Studio Ghibli will release When Marnie Was There in Japan on July 19, 2014, with an expected US release late next year.

After this we can expect a sequel of the squiggly Porco Rosso in Porco Rosso: The Last Sortie, to be directed by same director...